Travellers arriving in England from more than 50 countries will no longer be required to self-isolate for 14 days from 10 July, the UK government has confirmed.
The devolved administrations of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will take their own decisions on whether to relax quarantine restrictions for international arrivals into their airports.
France, Germany, Italy and Spain are included on the list of countries that will be exempt from the restrictions, the UK Department for Transport says. The government plans to publish the full list of countries later on 3 July.
Arrivals from the USA will still be required to self-isolate for 14 days upon entering the UK, transport secretary Grant Shapps said during an interview with BBC Radio 4. Asked whether the USA would be on the “red” list of countries that are not exempt from quarantine restrictions, Shapps said: “I’m afraid it will be. The US from a very early stage banned flights from the UK. There isn’t a reciprocal arrangement in any case there.”
The UK Foreign & Commonwealth will drop its advice to avoid non-essential travel to the countries that qualify for exemption from 4 July.
“The government’s expectation is that a number of the exempted countries will also not require arrivals from the UK to self-isolate,” says the DfT. There is no guarantee that the exemption from quarantine will be reciprocal, however.
The UK government introduced its mandatory 14-day quarantine for most passengers arriving in the country on 8 June, promising a review three weeks later. It now says the exempted countries “will be kept under constant review, so that if the health risks increase, self-isolation measures can be reintroduced to help stop the spread of the disease into England”.
